1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to spoken dialogue systems and more specifically to improving the synthetic speech generated by spoken dialogue systems.
2. Introduction
Currently, spoken dialogue systems have become much more popular with entities that use the systems in place of humans or where human operators are impractical. Such spoken dialog systems need to interact with humans in a sufficiently natural way that their use will be acceptable. The systems will formulate responses to user input by choosing appropriate words and creating sentences out of words. Once the text of a response is determined, a synthesizer such as a text-to-speech synthesizer will generate the audible response. The response and its particular characteristics, however, are not always appropriate. As these systems continue to replace humans, they need to create a more natural dialogue that is both effective and appropriate. Inappropriate interactions are caused by the system using the same synthetic voice without regard to the situation. Humans typically change linguistic characteristics while speaking depending on the type of speech as well as the form of dialogue. Some systems have implemented the ability to use a faux emotion in the synthesized voice; however, once again, this often leads to inappropriate simplification of the common human dialogue. Therefore, what is currently needed is a system that can improve the synthetic voices of spoken dialogue systems in order to create a more natural dialogue.